University Business - December 2008 - (Page 42)

Working with Consultants: Look Before You Leap Is a Consultant Really Necessary? A common mistake that leads to ineffective consulting relationships is bringing in outside expertise at the wrong time or for the wrong reasons. It’s best not to hire a consultant under any of the following circumstances: • Prematurely, before a need has been framed and buy-in has been obtained from the relevant stakeholders. Without buy-in, consultants will meet with resistance, and their work will be difficult, if not ineffective. • When there is a secondary, unspoken agenda, such as to obtain a whitewashed report to support pre-existing assumptions. For instance, consultants are sometimes hired under the pretense of coaching a leader when the real agenda is to hasten the leader’s exit or to support an assumption about an organizational restructuring. • If it will jeopardize the client’s credibility as a knowledge expert. For example, when one university’s head of HR hired a consultant who was a compensation specialist, the board questioned the need because the head of HR was hired on the basis of expert knowledge about executive compensation. If internal personnel are skilled in the consultant’s discipline, it is wise to define the overlapping role boundaries between the consultant and the internal experts. For instance, a consultant may be hired only to research market pricing, while an internal expert evaluates the research, presents it to the board, and proposes a course of action. • When the organization is suffering from consultant burnout. One institution’s athletics department, for example, brought in a series of four consultants to work on enhancing its programs when the staff saw no need for consulting expertise. Consultant burnout is particularly common when there are frequent changes at the top, and each new leader hires outside experts without reviewing what previous leaders’ consultants have already recommended. New recommendations are viewed with cynicism because internal stakeholders know that the previous consultant’s recommendations were never used. • When the university needs a core competency to address a short-term need. Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, cites the following example from her tenure as president of the University of North Carolina: “When voters passed the largest bond initiative in the history of higher education for construction on our campuses, we hired a construction management consultant. It was a competency we only needed for the short term and might never need again. The consultant, who served as a troubleshooter, had a deep network of subcontractors for critical work and the technical expertise to monitor construction progress. He was also extraordinarily skilled at team-building with the university’s facilities staff, providing mentoring and feedback in a non-threatening way.” • When the consultant has content expertise around particular best practices. Broad cites an example from a campus of The California State University, where a consultant was hired to re-engineer an antiquated procurement process in the early 1990s. “The consultant had the subject matter expertise,” she says, “and was highly skilled at obtaining buy-in from the internal stakeholders who would have to implement the new system. She assigned the strongest internal opponents as team leaders to encourage them to own the process and to prevent stonewalling.” • When there is a need for a neutral, objective party who is not living the university’s culture every day and has no agenda. One university hired a consultant to conduct a performance review of its president. The only internal candidate for the role would have been the head of HR, who worked with the president every day. For these types of assignments, a consultant needs real objectivity, says Jackie McClain, former vice chancellor of human resources for the Cal State system. “The consultant has to be able to convince everyone that he or she is open to finding the truth, rather than working toward a preconceived outcome.” She cites the example of a consultant who was A consultant’s role is to make the client look effective, so this person should not feel the need to be in the limelight or to receive credit for accomplishments. hired with a specific organizational restructuring in mind. “The entire staff knew that the administration wanted to split up a function into two departments,” she says. “The consultant had to build credibility and convince them that she was open to new ideas and would be able to present alternative solutions to the administration.” • To work with a senior executive who is isolated at the top. The consultant’s role is that of a trusted advisor and sounding board and someone who can contribute peripheral vision to help the leader see beyond his or her blind spots. In all of these situations, a consultant can bring best practices to the table based on the perspectives gained in working with other organizations and can advise leaders on alternative courses of action from the vantage point of a neutral outsider. universitybusiness.com Good Reasons for Hiring Consultants On the other hand, there are situations when it’s advantageous to enter into relationships with consultants. Outside expertise is desirable under the following circumstances: 42 | December 2008 http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - December 2008

University Business - December 2008
Contents
Editor's Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
Human Resources
2009 Annual Directory to Financial Services
Future Shock
Independent Outlook
Endowment Management
Look Before You Leap
50 Best Branding Ideas
Remedial Nation
What's New
Facilities Focus
End Note

University Business - December 2008